Preventing Swarms

Swarm going into skep

As colonies build up they will begin swarm preparations

How to assess for swarming status

Swarming is a natural process of reproduction for the honey bee colony. However, losing a swarm means losing much of the years honey crop so beekeepers try to prevent swarming as far as possible. Mid April is a good time to start thinking about swarm prevention.

Why do bees swarm ?

The principle factors that promote swarming are:

• Congestion of the brood space so the queen’s egg laying is restricted
• Reduced transmission of queen substance because the colony is too crowded
• A high proportion of young workers
• Low pheromone levels reducing the queens’ influence – perhaps due to her age
• The genetic trait of ‘swarminess’

Swarm prevention checklist

• Monitor the increase in drone brood in the colony
• Be aware of giving enough space to prevent crowding and add supers well in advance of them becoming full of bees
• Mark the queen and optionally clip one of her wings
• Check the queen’s egg laying rate. Reduced egg laying occurs before swarming.
• Monitor the appearance of queen cells
• Anticipate when colonies might swarm and have enough equipment easily available.
• Be aware of swarm control techniques you can use.

A queen cell Photo: Margaret Cowley

For the full text of this article by David Aston PhD, NDB, see Beecraft April 2005